* In many of the abuse or neglect investigations, caseworkers had done very little - sometimes virtually nothing - in the weeks before a child died. In some cases, the caseworker never found the family.

The agency itself faulted workers for not thoroughly investigating prior complaints in 18 of the 29 cases where death reviews were available.

* In at least nine deaths, the agency failed to thoroughly investigate the family's history - basic casework that might have raised alarms. In 12 cases, the DCF failed to track down relatives, neighbors, school teachers, day-care workers and others who could help determine how much danger children faced.

In one Palm Beach County case, investigators learned only after the death of Michael J. Bernard, a disabled 9-year-old, that his father had been arrested 37 times in 14 years on charges including battery, drug possession, domestic violence and child abuse.

* In only five of the death cases were DCF workers disciplined or fired. In others, DCF case reviews excused or glossed over agency errors that helped leave children at risk.

A DCF "Rapid Deployment Team" that was supposed to target errors in death cases was ordered not to put any findings in writing - meaning its findings, which might prove embarrassing, never got public scrutiny.

"That was a personal decision made by [former DCF Secretary Kathleen Kearney]," said agency spokesman Owen Roach, who worked for Kearney. "It may be one of those things that needs to be fixed."

Florida child welfare administrators had not experienced a significant backlog in investigations until 1999, the year Bush signed legislation intended to close the gaps in Florida's child-protection network.

Named after a 6-year-old Lake County girl who was beaten to death by her father just before Thanksgiving 1998, the Kayla McKean Act required people who had regular contact with children to immediately report suspicions of abuse.

"This law makes us more vigilant on the issue of protecting children," Bush said.

But the act had dramatic, unforeseen consequences. The new reporting rules flooded the state's child welfare program with new cases; abuse calls nearly doubled. Though Bush nearly doubled spending, the new money barely kept pace with demand.

As caseloads grew, so did the backlog. Within two years of the law's passage, the official backlog soared from 4,000 cases statewide to a high of 51,310, records show.

The agency's response: change the deadline for closing cases from 30 to 60 days. It happened after then-DCF Secretary Kearney convinced legislators that, with high caseloads and limited resources, child protective investigators could do their work quickly or thoroughly - but not both.

The Herald's review shows that, in many cases, they accomplish neither.

"This is a terribly broken system, and no action is being taken," said Charles Mahan, a University of South Florida child-policy professor. "If nobody intervenes within 30 days, the problem will get worse and worse. One intervention, even a phone call, could probably let some of these kids live."

Some child welfare experts - including Kearney's immediate predecessor - called the change in policy a mistake, meant more to improve the department's statistical image than to protect children's lives.

"When a child is in danger - knowing full well we have failed from time to time - there is no excuse for failing to respond immediately," said Edward Feaver, a former DCF secretary who now teaches at the University of South Florida. "One day is too long when a child is in danger."

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@